McDiarmid Park - 30th Anniversary


Chris Sweeney
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McDiarmid Park was the first purpose built all seater stadium in the UK and building was well underway by time the Hillsborough disaster took place on 15.04.89.  

Lord Justice Taylor paid a visit to McDiarmid Park to view the stadium as part of the Taylor Report (which only became recommendation, not law or regulation in Scotland).  


The keys were handed over to St Johnstone on 14th July 1989 and the first competitive match took place on Saturday 19th August v Clydebank.

The floodlight pylons are the ones from Muirton Park that were officially opened on 16th December 1964 by West Ham United and although the light fittings themselves have changed to comply with current lumen regulations the pylons are the originals. 

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2 hours ago, andy rhodes fancy watch said:

Ibrox still had a standing enclosure at the front of their main stand at that time. Pittodrie was the first all seater, certainly in Scotland, excluding kilbowie because nobody actually sat on those benches, we all stood on them.

It was the first after the Taylor report and a leading light for most small clubs.

Couldn’t have been, the Taylor report was published January 1990.  

LJT made a point of visiting McD because it was ‘ahead of its time’ and seen as the way forward.

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5 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

Was McDiarmid not almost built when the  Hillsborough disaster struck?

 

18 minutes ago, double deluxe said:

McDiarmid Park was the first purpose built all seater stadium in the UK and building was well underway by time the Hillsborough disaster took place on 15.04.89.  

Lord Justice Taylor paid a visit to McDiarmid Park to view the stadium as part of the Taylor Report (which only became recommendation, not law or regulation in Scotland).  


The keys were handed over to St Johnstone on 14th July 1989 and the first competitive match took place on Saturday 19th August v Clydebank.

The floodlight pylons are the ones from Muirton Park that were officially opened on 16th December 1964 by West Ham United and although the light fittings themselves have changed to comply with current lumen regulations the pylons are the originals. 

:rolleyes:

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I remember at the time talk of the purchase of Muirton Park and being disappointed, not because it was being raised to the ground, but because I lived a ten minute walk from the ground... to be honest I really didn’t think it would happen.. then as the months progressed and it became clear a deal was being done I was unhappy... Muirton was to me the home of St Johnstone. Surely a purpose built stadium would rip the memories/soul from the club? I was lucky enough to have a friend who worked for the contractor who built McDiarmid so was given a guided tour of the work in progress! I don’t know if it was seeing a brand new facility but I remember coming home from the visit and feeling perhaps it might not be the worst thing that could happen. The last game at Muirton was bittersweet, on one hand I had watched the highs of European football,  and next to the cup final team the best Saints team in their history.. but in reality Muirton was a decaying stadium badly in need of investment. The first season at McDiarmid to me was right up there with all the happy memories of watching Saints, we were a first division side managed by Alex Totten, and we had a reputation for fast attacking football, so here we were in a shiny new facility watching attractive attacking football in a league which was competitive. I don’t think you will find too many Saints fans who were at the Airdrie game and don’t rate that as one of their favourite games. I think history will dictate that McD has been a lucky ground for Saints, probably our longest unbroken run in the top flight, forays in to Europe, and of course THE cup win! It would be hard to find too many negative things to say about McDiarmid? I have good memories of both, however for me it has to be McD.. something I thought I’d never say...

Edited by Wendy Saints
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I started supporting Saints about 8 years of age and miss Muirton but it really had to go 

I was in my 20s when move was proposed and it couldn't have come at better time

I drunk in the Social Club under the stand an appeal was put out for voluntary workers to spruce the old lady up for new Season 

That included painting out sponsors boards no longer valid and generally painting and tyding

2 players, Willie Brown and the late Charlie Adam were hands on helping 

We got paid in pints, you can imagine the nick we were in sometimes 

I have some stories about the results of over indulgence and painting. 

Geoff Brown was always going to make changes and I was in the Social Club in Stranraer when the move to McDiarmid was announced 

It did not go down well at first with fan

A group of us did a ground visit for Hillsborough as the Ground was being built and we visited the new place to watch progress all the time 

The ground opened to crowds of over 7 and 8 k

Hard to imagine now

If you want more details let me know 

Gav S. 

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McDiarmid was the first new build all seated/all covered stadium in UK. Kilbowie was the first to be converted to all seating  although this comprised planks of wood on piles of bricks. Aberdeen followed very soon after but that was also predominately bench seating same as Kilbowie.

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Any views on moving to Mcdiarmid and aw one is posting about Muirton, not helpful.

I was excited moving away from Muirton Park (I would have been 10 year old). My dad would drive to the construction site of McD, we'd get out and view the creation of a stadium, my dad took photos.  I felt part of the build, there is nothing more exciting than getting into a new stadium having seen it take shape... 

I've been to Wembley, Emirates, New White Heart Lane all new stadia and it's a great feeling visiting huge new stadiums but nothing matches your own team's new setting when I was a boy, 10,000 all seater was spectacular compared to our neglected old home.

There was a good feel around the move in the community, many thousands would visit the edge of town on match day possibly as We had a exciting team, we were winning, it was the era of inflatable bananas, trophies, balls, parrots.   Good feelings all round, probably enticing fans to attend more games than they would have.   As a boy I knew of no protests about moving.

We had prime centre line East stand seats, perfect for viewing all the action. So many good early memories, and it continues to provide special memories.

Now, my moan.. Its just a pitty the stands are not closer to the pitch as we have a pointless gravel surround, feel it would have improved the atmosphere.  It's a pity its located on the edge of the city, as on match days the people of town would barely know a game is on, turnout has more than halved.   To me it's showing it's age, it was excellent 20-30 years ago, but could make so many tweaks to improve.  First would be getting rid of the red, yellow, blue block seating! What was the designer or chairman thinking, we would benefit from multi colour seats to look like the stadium is fuller as opposed to highlighting the non-attendance.  Or just blue and white.

Mcdiarmid was exciting, now its bordering souless as numbers have levelled out, fans have found other hobies, Mcdiarmid appeal is long gone, its just a classic example of 4 box stands of that era, designed by lego.

Edited by Dave H
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10 hours ago, Dave H said:

Now, my moan.. Its just a pitty the stands are not closer to the pitch as we have a pointless gravel surround, feel it would have improved the atmosphere.  It's a pity its located on the edge of the city, as on match days the people of town would barely know a game is on, turnout has more than halved.   To me it's showing it's age, it was excellent 20-30 years ago, but could make so many tweaks to improve.  First would be getting rid of the red, yellow, blue block seating! What was the designer or chairman thinking, we would benefit from multi colour seats to look like the stadium is fuller as opposed to highlighting the non-attendance.  Or just blue and white.

I always thought that perhaps the coloured blocks of seats were meant to be to help people find where to sit, but could be wrong. In the early days, when you got a ticket for a game at McDiarmid, it would always say "red seats", "yellow seats" etc on the the ticket. Of course nowadays, when you see what other clubs have done with their seats, the colour scheme at McDiarmid looks pretty ugly, especially given that they're not even Saints colours.

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2 hours ago, blueheaven said:

I always thought that perhaps the coloured blocks of seats were meant to be to help people find where to sit, but could be wrong. In the early days, when you got a ticket for a game at McDiarmid, it would always say "red seats", "yellow seats" etc on the the ticket. Of course nowadays, when you see what other clubs have done with their seats, the colour scheme at McDiarmid looks pretty ugly, especially given that they're not even Saints colours.

I agree. It was also a direct copy of  the seat colour  scheme at ibrox .

 

 

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It doesnt matter what colour the seats are if the stadium is full. Unfortunately its not even half full these days. Looks worse now the seats are faded and lots of replacements that dont match. 

They looked fine at the time when new but unfortunately we are stuck with them now. Replacing them all would be a needless expense.

The faded corrugated sides etc could do with being recoated to smarten them up etc but again expense. Car park etc is all looking its age now. We cant seem to afford a working microphone so no chance of the stadium being done up. Hillarious when theyve done the half time draw lately as the microphone cuts out throughout with us none the wiser about what number it was.

Ive not seen it mentioned but did they have to take the GS Brown sign off the back of the away stand or something due to planning permission. They seem to have got around it by naming the stand the GS Brown construction stand although it looks a bit rubbish that GS is still from the logo. 

It may not be the best looking stadium, but its home. Felt like we were going places when we moved to McD and I guess its true. We've had some great memories here and more to come. 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Rob said:

 Looks worse now the seats are faded and lots of replacements that dont match.

Our seats have held up pretty well when you look at how faded the seats are at Livingston or Hearts.

When they get replaced I would just use blue, would look patchwork for a while but eventully would be better.

 

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5 hours ago, Steve McQueen said:

Our seats have held up pretty well when you look at how faded the seats are at Livingston or Hearts.

When they get replaced I would just use blue, would look patchwork for a while but eventully would be better.

 

I thought about this but that would take forever. Cant think what Livi have but agree about Hearts. Red/ Marroon always fades like crazy. Think we are stuck with what we have.

Edited by Rob
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